Together or Not at All - Revelsa one shot
by JEGlass
Summary: Elsa is forever the steadfast queen, reliable and rarely ever ill. It's something she and her husband have come to count on, so what happens when the unflinching queen takes ill? A never ending torrent of stubborn royal pride Revel has to battle through in order to ensure his wife speeds along her road to recover.


_Clack! Clack!_ The wooden training swords smacked smartly together sending reverberations down the shafts of wood and into the wielder's hand. _Clack! Clack!_ Revel melted away from Elsa's recoil as smoothly as smoke drifting in the breeze, his form damn near perfect this evening. To her credit, the Arendelle queen didn't let on the level of her growing frustration as she pressed her attack, the slender wooden blade slicing and cutting through the air with practiced precision.

"Your form is a little rigid tonight, love," Revel observed with a half-grin as he barely dodged a sweeping ark that Elsa changed at the last second into a forward plunge that would have speared her husband through the stomach if these weren't blunted weapons and if he wasn't just a shade too quick for her. Grunting in surprise, Elsa changed trajectory, her feet pivoting against the packed earth floor, and moved to slide her blade into the pocket of Revel's armpit in anticipation for a throw. But again the king consort slipped away as if made of water and wacked his wife playfully on the back of her thigh with a satisfying _smack!_ He grinned with satisfaction when she yelped in surprise and rubbed the stinging mark, glowering as she did.

"My form is fine," Elsa grunted after the sting had resided, resuming a relaxed ready stance and backing away fractionally, centering her breathing like Revel had shown her how to do. Two inhales through her nose and out her mouth should have slowed her heart to a steady rhythm, but something seemed off tonight. Elsa's pulse just wouldn't slow down. Shaking it off, the queen held the stance and waited for her husband to press his attack like he always did after landing a solid blow.

"Perhaps it was too much wine at dinner?" he playfully winked, strutting around the practice circle with an easy kind of swagger. Clearly he was in no hurry to reset the sparring field, letting his wife linger for a little longer and pushing her patience.

"Perhaps I'm tired from enduring a full day of work," Elsa retorted with a raise of her chin, refusing to be goaded into attacking first. When Revel was this relaxed—his practice sword hanging loose from his dominant hand—the king consort was at his sparring peak. He was ready, he was waiting, and he was undoubtedly two steps ahead of the queen. Or so he liked to think. "Unlike a certain someone who spent his day with Sigmund and the guards again, one of us had to meet with tax consultants and representatives from the various guilds around Arendelle," Elsa explained in a clipped voice.

"Are you insinuating that I didn't pull my weight today? I'm hurt." Revel declared, feigning a hurt expression. He even went so far as sticking out his bottom lip to complete the facade of pouting.

Elsa sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, dipping her guard fractionally, which was when Revel jumped forward and struck. To his chagrin, however, the queen had been expecting exactly that, setting her trap masterfully and surprising her husband. She parried his strikes with a flurry of her own and pushed him backwards, teeth gritted as she traded blow for blow, their swords moving in a blur. It was difficult to keep her magic at bay while she sparred, but Elsa had promised Revel she'd keep her magical use to a minimum so she could actually learn the techniques he was teaching her. That didn't mean she didn't add a little will-ice to the shaft of her wooden practice sword for better grip, but that was all. No icing the training room floor or firing harmless blunted projectiles at him…though Elsa practically ached to plant a snowball in Revel's smug face. It would be so gratifying to hear him gasp in shock at the sudden cold.

Brushing aside a slice of Revel's sword that would have connected with the meat of the queen's upper arm—undoubtedly leaving behind a sizable bruise had it connected—Elsa caught Revel in a feint and delivered a stinging smack to his left buttocks with the flat of her blade. His yelp of surprise was more gratifying than thought possible, and Elsa practically grinned from ear to ear.

"God, that smarts," he hissed, rubbing the spot with his palm while arching against the pain.

"Serves you right," Elsa smiled wickedly. "Maybe you need a good smack in the butt from time to time as a reminder of who's really is in charge here."

Revel glared at his wife, but rather than retort he instantly stood at rigid attention like he had for so many years as a guard—ankles clicking together and face rearranging into a severe expression. His salute was perfectly on point, his practice sword sweeping out and stopping at a forty five degree angle at his side as was customary for all Arendelle guards in a royal salute.

"Always your servant, my Queen. Shall I bend over for another?"

Elsa tried to stifle her laugh and just barely managed to keep her face serene though she doubted the mirth had left her eyes.

"That won't be necessary," she waved airily. "I'm fully capable of delivering punishment to prideful upstarts."

She readied herself again, feet sliding into position, but was suddenly hit by such a profound wave of dizziness Elsa almost toppled over. Luckily the hitch in her balance was a fractional thing and she recovered quickly, but Elsa couldn't help but feel a warm, unwelcome flush rise into her cheeks along with a general pounding in her head and neck. When she blinked and touched a hand to her forehead—making it appear she was simply sweeping a few stray hairs out of her face—she found her skin was warmer than normal, but that could have also been from the sparring. The two had been pushing themselves rather hard lately, which was primarily Elsa's fault.

Upon her own request, the queen had Revel push her harder than normal so that her skills wouldn't wane any more than they had during her pregnancy with Hagan. The driving need to be back to her former skill level had meant that Elsa trained and drilled hard in the evenings after her son had been put to bed. It was a pleasant and healthy way to release the stress of the day and gave the the two royals time to share a few hours of uninterrupted company which was scarcely found now that the couple had started a family. But for the past few days Elsa noticed a shift in her body that likely had nothing to do with her nightly sparing sessions. It had started with a few light headaches during the day and occasional feelings of exhaustion. Nothing the queen hadn't felt before—both symptoms were commonplace with her level of workload—but coupled with night sweats and the occasional bout of chills, Elsa was starting to fear she was coming down with something.

"Elsa?" Revel frowned and dropped his satirical salute. He'd seen her falter, brief though it was, and had a feeling in his gut that something wasn't right. He knew his wife well enough to know she didn't just lose her balance for nothing. By comparison, her sister Anna could trip on flat surfaces, but Elsa was poise and grace rolled into a ball of arctic fury. If she stumbled it was for good reason.

"I'm fine," Elsa reassured him and waved off any attempt at offered aid. "I think I just moved too fast through those forms."

"We can stop for the evening, if you like."

"I'm fine, Revel. Or are you afraid that I'll add another bruise to the other cheek tonight?"

The king consort made a face and twisted himself around as if looking longingly at his unstruck right butt cheek. "I already can't sit on the left one now. You want to add insult to injury and make it so that I can't sit down at all?"

"It would be my pleasure," Elsa grinned. "Just don't make it too easy for me. I wouldn't want to wound your pride alongside your very lovely butt."

"You think my butt is lovely?" Revel asked, mirroring her grin, green eyes winking in the torchlight.

"The loveliest."

Two forms in and the playful banter had fallen away as focused concentration took over. Husband and wife made quick circles around the practice square in the guard tower with as much commanding grace as champion dancers: the clack of their practice swords, the shuffle of their feet, and the pant of heavy breathing the only sound in the room. It seemed as if Elsa's small bout of dizziness had just been a minor hiccup in their daily sparring routine, but it couldn't have been farther from the truth. Six forms in the queen was finding it difficult to draw adequate breath and felt her vision start to swim. She brushed it off as fatigue and stubbornly pressed on, ignoring her husband's worried looks. Eight forms in and Elsa was starting to pale and blink rapidly, brow creased in genuine concern. Revel would have called an end to the sparring sooner had the match not came to an abrupt and frightening end when Elsa took a step to the right in order to deliver a strike to Revel's unguarded shoulder and was falling before she could stop herself, vision dimming. She would have struck the hard-packed dirt floor had Revel not grabbed her at the last second.

"Elsa!" he exclaimed in shock and dropped to his knees with her in his arms. Even through the thin material of her fencers top he could feel the feverish flush of her skin and panicked. Elsa hardly ever overheated. She could cool herself in an instant even while sparring, but tonight she was flushed with heat and almost every inch of her shirt clung to her skin.

"You're burning up."

"I find that hard to believe. I'm the Snow Queen. I don't melt," she laughed and tried to stand, but couldn't muster the strength at the moment and sank back down. Revel tightened his grip.

"Elsa, this isn't a time for jokes. You have a fever," he pressed and was unable keep the worry from his voice. Fevers were nothing to trifle with. They had been known to devastate entire kingdoms, and though Elsa wasn't one for getting sick all that often, if at all, the presence of a fever of any degree worried the king consort to no end. He was reminded a little too clearly of what his mother had gone through after giving birth to his little brother Symon. She'd died from a seemingly insignificant fever.

"I'm fine. Just a—a little dizzy," Elsa tried to reassure her husband but was having the hardest time focusing on him. There were three Revels at the moment, and she couldn't decide which one to focus on.

"You're the farthest thing from fine." Already Revel was rising with her cradled in his arms.

"Oh for god's sake, put me down."

"I'm taking you to Brynja."

"I'm perfectly capable of walking!"

"I don't think—"

The queen might have been a slight woman with a slender build and willowy figure, but when she didn't want to be touched—or carried in this instance—she certainly made it known and could struggle like a fish out of water.

"Elsa, stop—"

"My feet…" she grunted, twisting in her husband's arms, "will be on the…ground…in three seconds…or—"

"I will sling you over my shoulder if I have to!" Revel spoke over her while struggling to maintain his grip. "I will walk through the castle with you over my shoulder in the most undignified way if you keep struggling."

Elsa knew that was a valid threat and stilled, though the fight didn't leave her eyes. "I can walk!"

"You almost fainted a few seconds ago!"

"I'm fine now!"

The two royals glared at one another, neither willing to relent until Elsa saw the worry on her husband's face. She was suddenly reminded of the moment almost a lifetime ago when he'd carried her up the stairs after one of their first training sessions. Elsa had been too stiff and sore to even attempt to mount the stairs and was completely against the idea of accepting Revel's help until he'd made the observation that perhaps her reluctance towards accepting help stemmed from a sense of overinflated pride. Remembering that conversation, Elsa deflated further.

"Can we at least come to a compromise?" she offered with a sigh.

"I'm listening," Revel nodded with a suspicious cant of the head.

"Help me walk to our room. If I swoon again you can carry me the rest of the way."

"So this is you admitting you're actually sick?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow that was almost lost in the curly brown locks hanging around his face.

"I don't get sick," Elsa retorted.

"Really?" Revel chuckled as he set his wife back down and looped his arm around her waist, providing support while at the same time allowing her to walk on her own. Sometimes it was better to let royalty be stubborn. It let them believe they were still in control. "Seems I remember a certain birthday party incident with your sister a few years ago where you said the exact same thing."

Elsa physically cringed at the memory. That whole day…had been a series of unmitigated disasters: one right after the other. Aside from nearly ruining Anna's big day—which, despite popular opinion, Elsa truly did believe she had utterly ruined it—Elsa had wandered through town in a drug-induced fog with her sister trailing worriedly behind her. It hadn't been until the queen nearly took a dive off the clock tower, something she was sure that bastard from the Southern Isles would have enjoyed seeing, that Elsa finally relented and allowed herself to admit that, yes, she indeed had a cold.

Apparently, adding to her embarrassment, Revel had been on duty that day and witnessed the whole fiasco first hand. He and the rest of his guards spent the majority of the afternoon and evening helping Kristoff round up the little sneeze-created snowmen who had taken it upon themselves to swarm the town and scare the life out of most of the locals. Only a year after the Great Freeze the citizens of Arendelle were still a little skittish around the manifestation of Elsa's powers, but they were learning to let it go and move on. Sadly, only Arendelle seemed to have moved past the initial fear of the "Snow Queen". Less than a year after the birthday incident, during the spring festival, the first of two assassination attempts would be made against Elsa in the same amount of days. That had been a changing point for the Arendelle royal family and had started the wheels of fate in motion; wheels that drew Elsa and Revel together in unexpected ways.

"All right, fine, you win," Elsa relented, hanging her head.

"No, I don't win," Revel corrected after kissing the top of her head. "You're just seeing reason."

"Don't patronize me," she huffed as the two began walking towards the castle proper with an easy gait. Had it not been for the queen's fever spike the purposeful walk could have been a relaxing late night stroll.

"Your Majesties," the guard just inside the door, Llew if Revel remembered correctly, saluted before his eyes flicked over to the queen and widened. "Queen Elsa, are you well? Shall I call for the physician?"

"Yes—"

"No—"

Revel and Elsa looked sharply at one another, and the poor guard couldn't figure out which authority to turn to.

"Yes," Revel said quickly before Elsa could speak, "please call Brynja—"

"I told you I'm fine!" Elsa spoke over him and gave the quickly paling guard a withering look. "Do not call the physician if you—"

"I override that order and reinstate my own. Lieutenant Llew, please fetch the physician at once—"

"Override my authority?" Elsa gaped. She leaned away from her husband with such a look of incredulous disbelief he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Revel felt ice spread across his shoulder where his wife's hand rested and tried not to flinch.

"You? You are going to override the word of the ruling queen of Arendelle?"

"I will if she's not cognitive enough to make clear decision," Revel answered evenly, keeping his face blank. He knew she needed Brynja, but once again royal stubbornness was getting in the way. And this certainly wasn't the first time this had happened.

Elsa scowled, face darkening at the same time her eyes began to lighten. "Do I look like I'm not cognitive to you? You're overstepping yourself, Revel."

Hearing the threat in his wife's voice and knowing he was literally skating on thin ice, the king consort returned his gaze to a very uncomfortable guard. "Please, go inform Princess Anna of the Queen's condition. I'm sure she will—"

" _Enough!_ "

Clearly that had been the wrong thing to say.

Both men blanched at the sudden cold wind snapping around them and the ice spreading under their feet, but only one had terror in his eyes. The guard clutched his pike with white-knuckle hands and clenched his jaw so tightly the muscles along the column of his neck bulged. Apparently the man had never witnessed the queen's powers up close and the effects of its touch were terrifying. Coupled with the fact that Elsa's eyes were starting to glow white didn't help matters either.

"Neither of you will do anything without my express consent, or have you forgotten that I am ruler here? Am I a woman whose word means little in the wake of a man's command? Have you forgotten _I_ alone am _queen_? My word is law, and I will not have my authority usurped by anyone: sister, _husband_ , or otherwise! Is that clear?"

The guard nodded his head vigorously, helmet rattling in his eagerness to show compliance. Revel was slower to nod, his back and shoulders burning from how rigidly he held himself. Very seldomly did he ever regret speaking his mind and making his opinion known, but this was one of those times. For just a brief moment the king consort was reminded that in the grand scheme of things he had to defer to his wife because she was the sole reigning authority in Arendelle. Most of the time Revel hardly noticed this tip in the scales of power, but today he felt the chasm between them widen just a bit further and couldn't help but regret pushing Elsa to the point that she had to flex her power in order to get him to obey. In all things her word was final, even when it came to her own self-care.

"As Her Majesty wishes," Revel relented with a stiff nod, face reddening with embarrassed shame.

Without another word, Elsa pulled her arm free from her husband's grip and proceeded up the residency wing stairs on her own with all the poise and rigid grace of a woman who was not to be trifled with. She didn't even glance down at her husband and the white-faced guard watching her ascend, head held high and shoulders back.

"You can exhale now, Llew," Revel sighed as he scrubbed at his face with his hands before raking them through his sweaty chocolate locks.

"Thank you, Majesty," the guard blew out a heavy breath and sagged a little. From the quake in his hands Revel imagined the guard would be rattled for the rest of his shift.

"Please, discretely go and fetch Physician Brynja. Even if Her Majesty won't speak to her, I'd like a word."

Llew looked grateful for something to do and hurried off, leaving Revel alone at the bottom of the stairs. Suddenly feeling quite exhausted, he slumped down onto the lowest step and put his head in his hands. Tonight had begun so well and yet had ended so poorly. He regretted pushing his wife when she didn't want the help, but damn it if she could be just as stubborn as Sven sometimes. Elsa, despite all her shinning qualities, good nature, and regal grace, was still human like the rest of the world and was subject to prideful and infuriatingly stubborn moments. She was a woman raised to rule a kingdom with just as much authority and command as any male ruler therefore any outward sign of weakness needed to be squelched as soon as possible. Revel had learned to live with this unfortunate side-effect—he was immensely proud of his wife and her accomplishments despite the adversity and obstacles she'd faced—but sometimes he had to check himself and remember who and what he was dealing with.

For a quite some time Revel remained at the bottom of the stairs lost in thought until a cry had him spinning around on the stairs, heart in his throat.

" _Revel! Kristoff!_ "

Anna's scream echoed far longer than it should have within the spacious castle, rising and falling like a Banshee's cry. To say he flew up the stairs would have been an understatement. Revel wasn't even sure his feet touched the floor as he charged down the short hallway and swung around the corner that would lead him directly to his and Elsa's room, but he didn't have any farther to run. Anna was on her knees in the center of the hallway rolling a limp Elsa onto her side and cupping her face, calling softly to her. Revel felt his heart stop.

The redhead might have said something but Revel was deaf to everything that didn't have to do with his listless, shockingly flushed wife. He scooped her into his arms and ran for their room, bursting through the door that Kristoff had already opened for him. The royal bedchamber was dark, but the king consort knew it well enough to make it to the bed without tripping over anything, gently laying Elsa atop the comforters.

"Revel…" she slurred, hazy eyes cracking open. Elsa pulled at the collar of her fencer's top, face twisting a bit. "I can't…I can't breathe."

Revel hastily lit the bedside lamps and removed Elsa's soaked top, heedless of whether he tore the fabric or not. In the lamplight he could see the scarlet flush of her skin and the dew-like prickles of sweat popping up everywhere as Elsa's chest jumped in her attempts to draw breath. His deft fingers quickly unlaced her soft undergarments, exposing the queen's naked torso to the cool air of the room. This seemed to help with her erratic breathing, but the scarlet flush didn't lessen any. Behind him Revel could hear Anna in the hallway speaking very quickly to someone but blocked it out as he snatched the water basin from Elsa's vanity and the rag next to it. He knew he had to get her fever down, but before he could so much as touch his wife with the wetted rag a breath of cold air and a rattling growl brushed past him like silk slipping through his fingers.

Beskytter, the queen's slinky will-ice snow leopard, and the newest member of the family next to Hagan, leapt onto the bed with the natural grace of a seasoned predator. Revel had to admit that seeing the big cat was still a bit nerve wracking. His initial instincts screamed at him to get the predator away from his wife until reason took over and reminded him that this was her creation same as Himmelen the ice hawk was Saja's in another life. It just seemed to be Frost Born nature to create living beings out of will-ice. Elsa's decision to create the big cat had come shortly after Hagan's birth. She'd told Revel that while Olaf was a wonderful companion for the children and beloved member of their family he wasn't a protector. Far from it, Olaf was more likely to be mischievous, and while that didn't necessarily mean he'd put anyone in danger, Elsa couldn't be too careful.

"I just have this urge to create something I know will protect my family like Marshmallow protects my ice castle. Its peace of mind, and an extra set of eyes can't hurt."

The big cat nuzzled her mistress with her wide head, frost blue eyes winking like chips of ice in the lamplight. Elsa didn't react to the beast, but it was no matter. Beskytter seemed to sense what was wrong and stopped her nuzzling, immediately sliding under the queen and lifting her into a raised position as if she were simply reclining on a large mound of pillows and not a massive ice cat.

The shift in the queen was almost immediate. Elsa sighed with visible relief and relaxed, the flush of her skin receding almost instantly as if Beskytter was drawing the deadly heat from her body. Moments later Physician Brynja appeared in the doorway and moved towards the bed only to check herself when she saw the big cat blink at her from behind the queen. Beskytter raised her head in greeting, as regal and poised as the woman who had crafted her.

"Will it let me near?" the older woman whispered to Revel, fear evident in the shake of her voice.

"She," the king consort corrected softly and nodded an apology to the leopard. "And yes, Beskytter hasn't started hissing at you, so I think it's safe to assume she won't attack."

"There is little comfort in that, but I'll take what I can get," Brynja mumbled and set to work.

It took little time to diagnose the queen with a high fever probably associated with a flu virus. Brynja prescribed a strong herbal tea that Elsa should drink three times a day regardless of her levels of nausea. She also needed to consume as much water as possible in order to remain hydrated while the fever fluctuated. The royal physician had even suggested bloodletting to remove any unbalanced humors in the queen, but Revel refused. He'd never been a believer in the bloodletting process but also couldn't stand the sight of leeches. Elsa was the same, so it was safe to assume she'd prefer to keep the slimy parasites as far away as possible. Brynja left once her examination was finished, leaving a shaken and exhausted Revel behind.

"Everything's going to be okay," Anna reassured Revel while rubbing between his shoulder blades as he sat hunched in a chair next to his wife. Kristoff had returned to his and Anna's quarters after the crisis abated in order to check on Jorg and Thea.

"Shouldn't this be the other way around? Shouldn't I be reassuring you?" Revel tried to smile but couldn't manage it.

Anna did it for the both of them, her grin capable of brightening even the most serious moments. "True, yes, I am a worrier when it comes to family, but I know she'll be alright. She's got you and me and Hagan. It's just a fever. It will pass."

Revel didn't say it out loud, but Anna had come a long way in a short amount of time. She'd matured quite rapidly after having her twins. It appeared giving birth to two healthy, if not a little rambunctious, children had evened her out, but she still retained her playfulness and natural joy. Having kids hadn't diminished her at all. If anything it had made her a little more savvy of the world and its goings on, tempering her considerably.

"Let me know if anything changes," Anna was saying as she moved to the door. "I'll be right down the hall."

"You'll be the first to know," Revel nodded.

Once Anna had gone he went about undressing and quickly washing himself in the basin of water he'd moved back to Elsa's vanity, using the cool rag to clear the stale sweat from his neck, chest, and underarms. Redressing in a clean shirt and trousers, the king consort debated for a few moments what to do now that everything had settled down. Elsa was asleep against Beskytter, but he was far too wound tight to even consider sleep of any kind. Plus the bed would be monstrously cold with the icy cat asleep on the pillows, so he grabbed a blanket from the foot of the bed and wedged himself into a comfortable position in the chair he'd dragged next to the bed. Luckily the book he'd been thumbing through was on the writing desk next to him. Revel got through perhaps two chapters before unknowingly dropping off to sleep, head resting against the mattress and the soft comforter.

Sometime later he woke with a start to cold fingers gliding through his hair, eyes flying open. The sky outside the window directly across from him was still dark while the room remained steadily lit by the oil lamp behind him, casting long shadows along the wall. Shifting in his chair, Revel looked to his left and saw Elsa looking back at him, a thin smile on her face. Beskytter was gone, probably off patrolling the castle again or stalking Sigmund and the other guards around the parapets, leaving the queen and her husband alone.

"Hey," she said quietly. She still looked paler than normal, her eyes glassy and bright in the light from the bedside lamp, but it appeared the fever had abated.

"Hey," he grunted, stretching his stiff muscles, the book in his lap sliding to the floor unnoticed, before taking her hand and kissing it. "How are you feeling?"

"Like an embarrassed fool," Elsa admitted honestly, a small twinge of shame pinching her face. "I should have listened to you."

Revel smiled faintly and got up out of his chair only to slide in bed next to his wife and pulling her atop his chest. As expected the pillows and blankets were shockingly cold, but he weathered the chill. It wasn't like Revel wasn't accustomed to cold anyway. His wife was the Snow Queen after all.

"I won't say that you should have, but I know why you didn't. I overstepped myself earlier this evening, and I apologize."

"Poor though your choice of words may have been, I know you had my best intentions at heart," Elsa deflated, curling into Revel's chest. She was still warmer than usual, her skin flushed with color, but it wasn't nearly as scarlet as it had been a few hours ago. "And I know I can be as stubborn as a mule when I get the itch to be that way."

"A mule?" the king consort scoffed, snorting through his nose. "More like you and Sven could be siblings."

That earned him a burst of cold air which instantly froze the hair on one side of his face, but he laughed regardless.

"Are you saying that I resemble a bull reindeer?"

"In stubbornness alone, I assure you," Revel grinned, rubbing life back into his frost-dusted, numb skin. "I am glad you're feeling better, though you did give your sister quite a scare."

"Oh _no_ ," Elsa groaned, burying her face in her husband's shirt. "What did I do?"

"Collapsed in the hallway. You don't remember?"

"No," she shook her head. "I remember walking down the hall and feeling very disoriented, and then I woke up here with Beskytter under me."

"I have to admit that your ice cat does come in handy even if she terrifies the castle staff sometimes. Seems she's good at relieving fevers. Speaking of which…" Revel slowly slid out of bed and retrieved the now cold pot of tea Brynja had left.

"They'll get used to her," Elsa was saying as he returned. "And Beskytter has gotten better about not hiding under bedsheets or prowling the kitchen."

Revel fought to contain a laugh. "Only because she almost gave Gerda a heart attack while she was changing Thea's sheets."

"She was just playing," the queen waved airily.

"You tell me with a straight face that if you were to come in here and find a large predator hiding under your sheets that you wouldn't scream too."

A wide, wicked smile slashed across Elsa's face. "Seems it and I would become fast friends seeing as I crawl into bed next to something that fits that description every night."

Revel grinned and did his best impression of a growl—which honestly paled in comparison to what Beskytter could create—but it got his wife to laugh as he sat back down on the bed. "Anyway, despite your adamant refusal to see the Physician, Brynja examined you anyway and said you needed to drink this at least three times a day starting when you next woke up. She also said," Revel pointed out, raising a finger to silence the retort forming on his wife's tongue, "that you are to have ample rest for the next few days until your fever breaks. That means staying in bed and _sleeping_."

Elsa stared at her husband for a few silent moments. She seemed to reach some internal decision because her face once again became stony as regal stubbornness began to settle in again.

"That's not possible, Revel, and you know it."

"Oh, it's possible," he retorted and handed her the tea. Elsa didn't necessarily like the mischievous look in his green eyes.

"No, it's not," she frowned, sitting up with little enthusiasm and taking the cup. Her head was still a little foggy and her vision swam if she moved too fast. At least the tea was decent enough—if not a little strong—as she began daintily sipping at the cold herbal beverage.

"You need to rest, love," the king consort said matter-of-factly, tucking a few loose strands of platinum hair behind his wife's small ears. "Your health comes before all else, and while you get well I'll take over whatever tasks you had planned for this week."

At this Elsa openly gaped, eyes going wide with a weird mixture of amusement and shock. "I have four meetings with just as many dukes and counts who are all arguing over land for their farms, a meeting with the treasury, irrigation plans to oversee, expansion of the ice harvesting fields to approve, import and export reports to read, and probably six other matters I'm completely forgetting about. Kai will have them all laid out for me in the morning, but that's not the point. I don't have time to get sick or take a day off. I have a kingdom to run, and I can't expect you to do that for me, Revel."

"This is all true," he slowly nodded, his lips pressed in a thin line and face serious. Then he smiled and Elsa felt a thrill ripple through her. It was as if Revel's smile had a magic all its own that warmed her from the inside out.

 _This man gives me a fever in so many ways,_ she thought to herself and fought to keep her own smile hidden.

"You are, however, forgetting one key thing," the king consort pointed out.

"And that is?" Elsa inquired, perfect eyebrow quirked.

"I'm not just a pretty face with a decent physique," he winked. "I was a prince at one time, and I captained your personal guard for years. I think, despite popular opinion, that I can manage things while you rest and recover."

"I don't think—"

"As your guard captain, I was responsible for balancing the budget you provided, correct?"

Elsa took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, you did, but that's—"

"And I was also in charge of overseeing all ship dockings on the wharf, and the transportation of imported and exported goods, yes?"

"Yes—"

"As well as the writing reports documenting any noble or dignitary entering Arendelle whether under your direct order or having requested an audience, right?"

"You did but—"

"Was I not also in charge of recruitment and training your personal and palace guard? Have I not also sat in on your meetings and seen how you conduct—"

"Revel, this isn't the same!" Elsa spoke loudly over him for the second time that night. "My duties are different and sensitive. I alone have to tend to them. I can't just let you take over for a day or even a week. This is my duty. This is _my_ kingdom. I know you mean well, but it's not going to happen. The weight of a crown doesn't rest on your head."

For a few moments it looked as if he might argue. Elsa saw her husband's face harden with his own brand of stubbornness, but whatever he'd prepared to say slipped away in lieu of something else. Slowly, Revel took Elsa's hands in his and stared hard into her eyes as if willing her to see him and only him.

"These are the hands that will hold you during the turmoil of life," he said, reciting the handfasting ceremony from their wedding and punctuating each word by gently squeezing her hands. "These are the hands that will wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of both sorrow and joy. These are the hands that will hold your children. These are the hands bound to protect one another, to be both sword and shield. These are the hands that will give you strength, and these are the hands that, even when withered with age, will still be reaching for yours in this life and in the paradise beyond."

Elsa was shocked to silence, whatever else she'd been about to say slipping from her tongue.

"We do this together or not at all, that's what you told me the day I brought you back to Arendelle after the incident in your ice palace."

"I remember," the queen whispered, looking down at her hands resting in Revel's.

"So we do this together. You lean on me and me on you. Let me help you. Let me be your husband first and the king consort second. I just want you safe and well."

"That's not fair bringing our vows into this," Elsa grumbled, refusing to meet his gaze.

"All's fair in love and war," he said, leaning down to kiss each of her knuckles in turn.

"All right, fine. You win this round, but only because I lack the strength and stamina to argue with you any longer. Its late," the young woman sighed and flopped back against her pillows. Irritatingly enough, she was starting to feel another wave of fever setting in, the hair along her brow sticking to her skin.

"I'm glad you're seeing reason," Revel smiled and helped Elsa under the covers. Apparently the tea had sleeping herbs added to it because the queen was getting quite groggy, her eyelids barely able to stay open.

"Glad…you're here to help me…see reason," she slurred.

"Sleep, love. I'm here."

"I…feel you," Elsa murmured before dropping off.

Revel settled in beside his wife and watched her for a time before falling asleep with his arms across her chest, content on holding the woman he loved for just a little bit longer before Kai came knocking as prompt as ever at first light.


End file.
